Snowy Owl - Which version?

[Enrique Patino]

Canon 7D, 600mm, f/4, 1/250, ISO 800, monopod. The bird is about 70% of FF horizontally

I took this photo within 10 minutes of sunrise a end of last year. I was lucky to get decent sharpness on a series of images for this bird landing on a stump. I like the darker BG, but I see lots of noise (color purple). The lighter image looks a bit washed up (the BG there is just a bit lighter than the original RAW - I separated the bird from the BG using the quick selection tool on its own layer). I know there is noise in the image overall, but I can live with it on the bird for this one.

I would appreciate your feedback and preference between the two versions.

enrique

[Ravi Hirekatur]

Enrique,
Wow! Beautiful image. I like the second version (the lighter version) better. Gives a little more info on the background. The owl is such a strong subject that the lighter background doesn't distract me IMO. Not enough light on the right eye is a problem? I would leave it to the more experienced members. To my novice eyes, the picture looks great, as it is. I hope to capture capture such images in the future.

[Vikram Agrawal]

no.2 looks like a more natural setting to me.

Both are great pictures :)

[Ronald Zigler]

I agree with Ravi & Vikram. No 2. is more satisfying. It gives some subtle background information and yet does not distract from the image.

[Enrique Patino]

thanks for your input and comments... much appreciated!!

[Amol Khedgikar]

Very Nice. I like the second better too. Shows some natural habitat.

The soft golden light caresses the right wing underparts very nicely but the left wing could use some lightening. actually most of the dark left side could be a little lighter.
Would love to see a little more contrast in the image (may be a little more blacks only on the bird?).but like the 2nd one as presented.

[Kerry Perkins]

Hello Enrique, I have to say that I can't really pick a winner between the two, as I really like both for different reasons. The first image is a nice example of an artistic technique called chiaroscuro. I have a tutorial on the subject in OOTB here - http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...-mini-tutorial I would darken the bg even more on this one and you have a real work of art. The second image is more natural and shows the owl in its environment. In both instances, I would open up the crop a bit to give the bird some room to move. Excellent flight capture and sharpness! I would suggest warming up the color temperature as the image is very blue. Did you use auto white balance? It tends to add a blue shift to warm light as found at dawn. What a great opportunity to capture this species, thanks for sharing!

[Enrique Patino]

Thanks all for your comments. Thanks Kerry for interesting details and suggestions. I warmed up the image a bit, gave the bird a bit more room (this is ~90%FF) and darkened the BG after separating the bird on its own layer, as I wanted to see that version improved. I did not see an advantage by moving the bird to the left (??- what do you think?).

I tried to lighten the left wing and eye a bit using the dodge tool, but in a larger version it brings out even more noise. Since I know the light is coming from the right, I don't mind the shadows on the left wing and eye in the larger (printable) version. I might try printing this one at 20x16 and see how it looks. Thanks again.

[John Chardine]

Hi Enrique- You did a nice job lightening the BG and masking off the bird. Like Kerry I don't really have a favourite so am not much help. You might have been able to achieve a similar result by using the Exposure and Fill light sliders in ACR. I would need the raw to experiment with. This another good candidate for the following:

http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...mages-Exercise

It would be interesting to see what people would do with the image.

[Enrique Patino]

sending a PM for consideration of this image. I think it is a good idea...